EP3311530B1 - Verfahren und vorrichtung zur nutzung von durch drittparteien bereitgestellten infrastruktur- oder netzwerkkonnektivitätsdiensten - Google Patents

Verfahren und vorrichtung zur nutzung von durch drittparteien bereitgestellten infrastruktur- oder netzwerkkonnektivitätsdiensten Download PDF

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Publication number
EP3311530B1
EP3311530B1 EP16802558.3A EP16802558A EP3311530B1 EP 3311530 B1 EP3311530 B1 EP 3311530B1 EP 16802558 A EP16802558 A EP 16802558A EP 3311530 B1 EP3311530 B1 EP 3311530B1
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Prior art keywords
tcsp
control element
infrastructure
inp
resources
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP3311530A1 (de
EP3311530A4 (de
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Nimal Gamini Senarath
Sophie Vrzic
Jaya Rao
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Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
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Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/08—Configuration management of networks or network elements
    • H04L41/0896—Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities
    • H04L41/0897—Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/08—Configuration management of networks or network elements
    • H04L41/0896—Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/08—Configuration management of networks or network elements
    • H04L41/0894—Policy-based network configuration management
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/12—Discovery or management of network topologies
    • H04L41/122—Discovery or management of network topologies of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/50—Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
    • H04L41/5041—Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
    • H04L41/5054—Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
    • H04L63/08—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
    • H04L63/0892—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
    • H04M15/51—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP for resellers, retailers or service providers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04M—TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04M15/00—Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication ; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP
    • H04M15/88—Provision for limiting connection, or expenditure
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
    • H04W12/06—Authentication
    • H04W12/068—Authentication using credential vaults, e.g. password manager applications or one time password [OTP] applications
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W24/00—Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
    • H04W24/02—Arrangements for optimising operational condition
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/24—Accounting or billing
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W48/00—Access restriction; Network selection; Access point selection
    • H04W48/18—Selecting a network or a communication service
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W8/00—Network data management
    • H04W8/18—Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
    • H04W8/20—Transfer of user or subscriber data
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/18—Service support devices; Network management devices

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to wireless access networks and in particular to methods of managing and virtualizing a network to provide third-party infrastructure among service providers.
  • MVNOs Mobile Virtual Network Operators
  • MNOs mobile network operators
  • SLAs Service Level Agreements
  • An MVNO typically arranges for access to a set of resources from at least one MNO.
  • the MVNO may operate its own servers for the purposes of authentication, accounting, and other administrative tasks, but it relies upon an MNO for access to infrastructure and a wireless interface.
  • Some MVNOs use the resources of a plurality of different MNOs to obtain broader coverage when the coverage areas of the MNOs do not strictly overlap or to allow for better service if the coverage areas of the MNOs overlap.
  • an MVNO typically operates through a bulk purchase of resources (e.g. bulk purchases of voice call minutes, or bulk purchases of data) that are then resold to end customers.
  • VNO Network Functions Virtualization
  • VN virtual network
  • NFV infrastructure NFVI
  • Using management and instantiation techniques across a number of different infrastructure and service providers can allow for interoperability of different virtual service providers.
  • Patent application WO 2011/032595 A1 discloses a virtual network controller configured to receive a request for the provision of a slice of a network to a virtual network operator and determine any one of following to automatically take actions: whether the slice can be provided form existing resources, whether the slice can be provided if existing resources are re-configured, or whether the slice can only be provided if additional resources are obtained.
  • next generation networks such as so-called fifth generation (5G) networks
  • infrastructure-owning entities or infrastructure providers (InPs) that do not provide telecommunications services on their deployed infrastructure.
  • InPs infrastructure providers
  • virtualization of network resources and network functions will be employed.
  • the present disclosure discloses a method and a telecom connectivity service provider control element for negotiating control and accessing third party InP infrastructure using virtualization of the infrastructure in a manner that is transparent to already embedded virtual networks and end users.
  • An InP provides infrastructure that can be used by a number of different parties.
  • the InP provides Radio Access Network (RAN) resources.
  • the core network functionality can be provided by a Telecommunications Connectivity Service Provider (TCSP), which may also be referred to as a Service Provider (SP).
  • TCSP Telecommunications Connectivity Service Provider
  • SP Service Provider
  • the TCSP can engage a plurality of InPs so that it can offer connectivity in different areas.
  • the TCSP may own physical RAN resources as well. If these resources are available to other TCSPs, then the RAN resources can be organized as an InP.
  • a Virtual Network Operator (VNO) provides user or customer facing services.
  • VNO Virtual Network Operator
  • the VNO can be distinct from the TCSP, allowing a large number of service providers to be supported. The separation of these roles allows for different parties to provide service with a reduced startup cost. Entities such as property managers can become InPs by connecting pico-cell type Access Points (APs), without needing to worry about how to provide network services atop the infrastructure. A TCSP does not need to build all the infrastructure required for a Radio Access Network, and can even avoid having to deal with end users.
  • APs pico-cell type Access Points
  • VNOs There may be VNOs that will enter into customer agreements to provide network services to a customer's end users, but do not own all or any of the infrastructure that would be used to provide such capability to its customers and end users.
  • an InP can make its infrastructure available to any VNO associated with the TCSP(s).
  • the InP can allocate its infrastructure to the TCSP in any of a number of different ways including hard allocation of portions of the infrastructure (in at least one of time and frequency allocations), or through the use of virtualization.
  • the TCSP can be allocated a virtualized set of resources that the InP can map to the physical infrastructure.
  • the TCSP can make virtualized resources available to a VNO, allowing the VNO to make use of some or all of the resources allocated to the TCSP.
  • infrastructure of multiple InPs could be used by a single TCSP.
  • multiple TCSPs could use the infrastructure of a single InP.
  • the infrastructure may be allocated with varying degrees of control.
  • the control capability may include at least one of power control and scheduling functions.
  • the InP may allocate infrastructure for exclusive use by an individual TCSP (designated a "hard slice").
  • a hard slice When an InP allocates a hard slice of the infrastructure to a TCSP, it may also cede some degree of control capability to the TCSP.
  • the InP's allocation of infrastructure for use by an individual TCSP may not be as strictly identified as it is in the hard slicing example. Such allocations also referred to as a "soft slice", allow access to an InP's infrastructure without a strictly-defined boundary on the allocated resources.
  • an InP instead of allocating certain time or frequency allocations to a TCSP, an InP may simply indicate that a certain percentage of its infrastructure will be available to the TCSP within an agreed-upon time window (e.g. 40% of the resource blocks within a 5 second time window).
  • Such guarantees provide the TCSP with access to the InP's infrastructure but without strictly defining the terms of such access, including without limitation, at least one of the time allotment and the frequency allotment. Because the allocation is not strictly defined, the TCSP is not provided with fine-grained control over the infrastructure. Rather, the InP maintains some control over the infrastructure but takes instructions and guidelines for their control from the TCSP in accordance with the terms of such guarantee.
  • an InP could provide physical layer abstractions of certain infrastructure and their capabilities to the TCSPs for the TCSPs to access and use.
  • the associated costs of providing such abstractions could be allocated in a dynamic or static manner.
  • a first TCSP could be interposed between a second TCSP and an InP.
  • the first TCSP could act as a virtual InP from the perspective of the second TCSP.
  • the second TCSP could act as a virtual VNO from the perspective of the first TCSP.
  • a TCSP control element of a TCSP may be in communication with a downstream control element.
  • the downstream element could be a local control element in an InP.
  • the downstream element could be a TCSP control element of a downstream TCSP.
  • the TCSP control element uses such communications to at least one of request access to an allocation of the infrastructure, receive access to an allocation of the infrastructure and control the allocation of the infrastructure.
  • the TCSP control element of a TCSP may be in communication with an upstream control element.
  • the upstream control element could be a TCSP control element of an upstream TCSP or a VN control element of a VNO.
  • the TCSP control element uses such communications to provide the VNO with at least one of access to and control of at least one VNF instantiated using the allocated infrastructure.
  • the TCSP control element, local control element of the InP and/or the VN control element of the VNO may govern aspects of the infrastructure resources, such as at least one of resource control (RC), authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA), access control (AC) and performance monitoring.
  • RC resource control
  • AAA authentication, authorization and accounting
  • AC access control
  • a method for allocating at least one infrastructure resource to at least one VNO comprises actions, at a TCSP control element of at least one TCSP, of sending to a downstream control element, a request for a portion of the infrastructure to be allocated to the TCSP by an InP associated with the infrastructure, receiving a response from the downstream control element providing access to and control of the allocated infrastructure to the TCSP, and accessing and controlling the allocated infrastructure.
  • the action of accessing and controlling can comprise pooling the allocated infrastructure with other infrastructure allocated to the TCSP.
  • the method can comprise communicating with an upstream control element for providing access to and control of the allocated infrastructure to the VNO.
  • the upstream control element can be any or all of the TCSP control element of an upstream TCSP and a VN control element of the VNO in communication with the TCSP control element of a TCSP.
  • the downstream control element can be at least one of the TCSP control element of a downstream TCSP and a local control element of the InP in communication with the TCSP control element of a TCSP.
  • the TCSP control element and the downstream control element can exchange requests and responses until a resource usage policy is agreed to before the TCSP processes and controls the allocated infrastructure.
  • the resource usage policy can govern at least one of an RC, AAA, AC attribute and performance monitoring.
  • the allocated infrastructure can be at least one of a hard slice of resources providing the TCSP with exclusive use of the infrastructure in the slice and a soft slice of resource providing the TCSP with an upper limit on use of the infrastructure in the slice.
  • a TCSP for accessing and controlling a portion of at least one infrastructure resource allocated to the TCSP by an InP associated with the infrastructure.
  • the TCSP comprises a TCSP control element for sending a request to a downstream control element of the InP to allocate the infrastructure to the TCSP and for receiving a response from the downstream control element providing access to and control of the allocated infrastructure to the TCSP, whereby the TCSP accesses and controls the allocated infrastructure.
  • the TCSP control element can be the downstream control element for receiving the request from the TCSP control element of an upstream TCSP and for sending the response to the TCSP control element of the upstream TCSP.
  • the TCSP control element can comprise a broker entity for negotiating a resource usage policy with the TCSP control element of the upstream TCSP.
  • the TCSP control element can exercise control under direction of the TCSP control element of the upstream TCSP and it may cede control to the TCSP control element of the upstream TCSP.
  • the TCSP can pool the allocated infrastructure with other resources allocated to the TCSP and it may communicate with an upstream control element for providing access to and control of the allocated infrastructure to at least one VNO.
  • the TCSP control element can be the upstream control element for communication with the TCSP control element of a downstream TCSP.
  • the TCSP can comprise a MANO in communication with the TCSP control element.
  • the MANO can comprise at least one of an orchestrator, a VNF manager and a VIM.
  • the TCSP control element can comprise at least one of a network manager, a proxy VNFM, a shared VIM, a policy manager and a negotiator.
  • the negotiator can negotiate a resource usage policy with the downstream control element.
  • the policy manager can identify the acceptable resource usage policy.
  • the negotiator can be controlled by the orchestrator.
  • the shared VIM can control the allocated infrastructure.
  • a telecom connectivity service provider (TCSP) control element comprising: a network interface, a processor and a non-transitory memory.
  • the network interface allows for communication with control elements within an Infrastructure provider (InP).
  • the non-transitory memory stores instructions that when executed by the processor cause the TCSP control element to send to an Infrastructure Provider (InP) control element, a request for a portion of the infrastructure to be allocated to the TCSP; and access an allocated portion of the resources of the InP associated with the InP control element in response to receiving a response from the InP control element providing access to the allocated infrastructure.
  • InP Infrastructure Provider
  • the memory contains further instructions to transmit control instructions to infrastructure associated with the allocated portion of the resources in response to receipt of control of the allocated portion of the resources.
  • a VNO When a VNO receives a request to admit a new customer, or to provide additional services to an existing customer, the VNO will determine whether it has sufficient resources to provide the (additional) services to the customer. If it does not have sufficient resources, it may try to obtain access to additional resources by requesting services from a TCSP.
  • a TCSP When a TCSP receives a request from a VNO to obtain services or resources from the TCSP, the TCSP will determine whether it has sufficient resources to provide such services to the VNO. If it does not have sufficient resources, it may try to obtain access to additional resources by which it can support the VNO's request. This may involve attempting to obtain additional resources from an InP with whom it already has obtained resources or to establish a relationship with one or more InPs with which it does not currently obtain resources. The TCSP can determine whether an InP has resource capability that the TCSP can access to support the VNO, if the TCSP has visibility into at least one of the resource control (RC) and access control (AC) for the InP's infrastructure resource set(s).
  • RC resource control
  • AC access control
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example relationship between different network entities.
  • the diagram identifies VNO 1 110 and VNO 2 115.
  • Each VNO 110, 115 has its own end user population, each collectively designated respectively as Customer 1 120 and Customer 2 125.
  • a VNO 110, 115 may have an end-user population 120, 125 that is distinguishable, for example, by geography or by type of service.
  • the type of service may include at least one of an alarm company or utility that operates machine-type communications (MTC) sensors, emergency (police, fire, paramedic) first responder services, and a video distribution service.
  • MTC machine-type communications
  • Each such example service may have an end-user population 120, 125 that has specific characteristics.
  • a VNO 110, 115 may cater to an end-user population 120, 125 that has such specific characteristics.
  • a VNO 110, 115 may simply offer services of a generic nature to any customer that chooses to subscribe to its services.
  • the nature of the customer or end-user population 120, 125 being serviced by a VNO 110, 115 may dictate to what resources the VNO 110, 115 may choose to subscribe and the manner in which it effects such subscription.
  • the diagram also shows InP B 130 and InP R 135. There is not necessarily a one-to-one correspondence between InPs 130, 135 and VNOs 110, 115. Any number of both InPs and VNOs can be supported.
  • Each of the InPs 130, 135 has at least one of one or more associated infrastructure resource sets and infrastructure services (collectively "infrastructure") 140, 145.
  • infrastructure infrastructure resource sets and infrastructure services
  • two sets are shown, each associated with a different InP 130, 135.
  • the infrastructure 140, 145 or a portion allocated by the associated InP 130, 135, may, alone or in combination with other infrastructure 140, 145, be used to instantiate one or more VNFs (not shown) that may be used to serve the mobile devices (not shown) of end-users of one or more of the VNOs 110, 115.
  • a mobile device refers to a device that connects to the mobile network, whether or not the device is mobile or not.
  • the infrastructure 140, 145 offered by an InP 130, 135 may be of various types, including without limitation, one or more AP(s) (as shown), which may be base-stations or eNodeBs (eNBs), backhaul connections, processing and storage capacity and other resources that will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
  • AP(s) as shown
  • eNBs eNodeBs
  • Such infrastructure may be permanently available in its entirety for use by one or more VNOs 110, 115.
  • something less than the entirety of the infrastructure 140, 145 may be allocated or made available.
  • Non-limiting examples include allocating only a portion of the infrastructure 140, 145, such as at least one of a certain frequency band, a certain bandwidth of an available connection, a given geographical area and making infra-structure 140, 145 available only during date- or time-specific windows.
  • the InPs 130, 135 provide their associated infrastructure 140, 145 and their controlling technology with one or more physical abstractions.
  • such abstractions may comprise a designation of dynamic or static allocation, a so-called “hard” or “soft” slice, as described herein.
  • One or more TCSPs are interposed between the VNOs 110, 115 and the InPs 130, 135.
  • the TCSPs 150, 160 may each service a plurality of VNOs 110, 115 and a plurality of InPs 130, 135.
  • Each TCSP 150, 155, 160 may be allocated a portion of infrastructure 140, 145 offered by one or more InPs 130, 135.
  • Each TCSP 150, 155, 160 may pool its allocated infrastructure 140, 145 from different InPs 130, 135.
  • a TCSP 150, 155, 160 may offer network service (including access to an allocation of the pooled infrastructure 140, 145) to the VNOs 110, 115.
  • One or more VNOs 110, 115 may instantiate one or more VNFs (not shown) using the (pooled) allocated infrastructure 140, 145 offered by the TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • the infrastructure 140, 145 on which the VNO 110, 115 has instantiated the VNFs (not shown) is assigned to TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • the VNO 110, 115 is effectively unaware of the existence of the InP 130, 135 to which the infrastructure 140, 145 actually belongs.
  • the customer / end-user population 120, 125 subscribes to the TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • the InP 130, 135 is effectively unaware of the existence of the VNO 110, 115 to which the end-user population 120, 125 actually is subscribed.
  • a TCSP 150, 155, 160 can access an allocation of infrastructure 140 owned by InP B 130, under a prescribed set of conditions, and can access an allocation of infrastructure 145 owned by InP R 135 in accordance with another set of conditions.
  • such allocation by an InP 130, 135 may comprise a network slice that provides access to a set of NFVI mapping to the physical infrastructure 140 145.
  • the TCSP 150, 155, 160 is free to access and control its allocated infrastructure 140, 145, either alone or in combination with other infrastructure 140, 145.
  • the TCSP 150, 155, 160 may provide access to the allocated infrastructure 140, 145 to subscribing VNOs 110, 115, by which the VNOs 110, 115 may provide service to its customers and end-users 120, 125.
  • the TCSPs 150, 155, 160 have neither end users 120, 125 nor infrastructure 140, 145 but model to the VNOs 110, 115 (or to other TCSPs 150, 155, 160, as discussed below) that they have infrastructure 140, 145 allocated to them.
  • certain entities such as a network operator, will have both customers / end users 120, 125 and own infrastructure 140, 145. That is, such entities may conduct operations that cover more than one of the strata corresponding to the VNO 110, 115, the InP 130, 135 and the TCSP 150, 155, 160. Such entities may thus be considered to comprise multiple separate virtual entities, each corresponding to one and only one of these strata.
  • one of such virtual entities may interact with an entity other than the corresponding virtual entity of the same network operator.
  • the virtual TCSP entity may seek to have allocated infrastructure 140, 145 to it from an InP 150, 155, 160 other than the virtual InP entity of the same network operator, or the virtual InP entity may allocate its instructure 140, 145 to a TCSP 150, 155, 160 other than the virtual TCSP entity.
  • FIG 2A is a conceptual block diagram showing services being provided between the three strata described in Figure 1 .
  • the top stratum is represented by the VNOs 110, 115.
  • Each of VNO 1 110 and VNO 2 115 is being offered a service 253, 254, such as by access to and control of allocated infrastructure 140, 145, by TCSP A 150.
  • the type of service 253 offered by TCSP A 150 to VNO 1 110 may be the same as or different from that of the type of service 254 offered by TCSP A 150 to VNO 2 115.
  • TCSP A 150 is offered an allocation 233, 238 of infrastructure 140, 145 and associated resources (such as access and control of the infrastructure 140, 145) by each of InP B 130 and InP R 135.
  • virtualized infrastructure such as NFVI
  • InP 130, 135 it may be possible for the InP 130, 135 to scale the capacity of an element of the virtualized infrastructure to meet the needs of the TCSP 150.
  • This may be considered as offering Infrastructure as a Service (laaS), as the capacity of the infrastructure can be scaled to meet the needs of the TCSP 150.
  • the allocation 233 offered by InP B 130 to TCSP A 150 may be the same as or different from that of the allocation 238 offered by InP R 135 to TCSP A 150.
  • the allocation 233, 238 offered by InP B 130 or InP R 135 respectively, can include, by way of non-limiting example, wireless connectivity through one of its APs 140, 145.
  • UE 1 221 takes advantage of this connectivity offered through allocation 233
  • UE 2 222 and UE 3 223 take advantage of this connectivity offered through allocation 238.
  • While an InP 130, 135 may own infrastructure 140, 145, it may not own spectrum usage rights.
  • a spectrum owner 200 may own no infrastructure 140, 145 and may not provide any services but may enter into an agreement 230, 235 with an InP 130, 135 to allow the InP 130, 135 to use spectrum for certain geographic areas.
  • the spectrum owner 200 may also enter into an agreement 250 with a TCSP 150 to allow use of certain spectrum resources in different geographic areas. In such case, the TCSP 150 can instruct an InP 130, 130 to use spectrum bands to which it has ownership or access rights.
  • FIG. 2B the same example network is shown, but now it is may be seen that UE 1 221 and UE 3 223 are end-users subscribed to VNO 1 110, while UE 2 222 is an end-user subscribed to VNO 2 115.
  • control elements or servers is shown for each of the VNO 110, 115, TCSP 150 and InP 130, 135 entities.
  • control elements may be implemented as virtual functions instantiated upon the resources of the entity that uses them.
  • a first set of such control elements 211, 216, 251, 231, 236 is related to at least one of resource control (RC), authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) and access control (AC) control communications.
  • RC resource control
  • AAA authentication, authorization and accounting
  • AC access control
  • RC features allocate a system's resources in a controlled fashion and may include, without limitation, scheduling, power control, cell assignment, selection of at least one of access points, bandwidth assignment and admission control (AC) and any combination of any of these.
  • An AAA service framework is typically associated with infrastructure 140, 145 for controlling access to computer resources, enforcing policies, auditing usage and providing information from which services can be billed.
  • AC which may be considered a feature of RC, is a validation process in communications systems, where a check is performed before a connection is established to see if current resources are sufficient for the proposed connection and that the proposed connection is authorized or properly subscribed.
  • a second set of such control elements 212, 217, 252, 232, 237 is related to performance monitoring such as at least one of radio system status (including channel feedback, interference measurements, link loading, user equipment (UE) states and mobility information) and virtual network end-user performance monitoring (including data usage stats for charging).
  • Such control elements are referred to as monitors.
  • TCSP control element 251 and a TCSP monitor 252 is instantiated by TCSP A 150 within the resources of TCSP A 150, to support control communications with other entities.
  • TCSP control element 251 and a TCSP monitor 252 for each VNO 110, 115 to which TCSP A 150 provides services 253, 254.
  • VN control element 211, 216 and a VN monitor 212, 217 is instantiated by and associated with each of the VNOs 110, 115 within the resources that each VNO 110, 115 has obtained.
  • Either or both of the VN control element 211, 216 and the VN monitor 212, 217 support control communications at the VNO 110, 115 level.
  • Either or both of the VN control element 211, 216 and the VN monitor 212, 217 may be instantiated using a template of a control element or monitor made available to the associated VNO 110, 115 by TCSP A 150.
  • TCSP A 150 may instantiate one or more of at least one of local control elements 231, 236 and local monitors 232, 237 using resources within each InP 130, 135. One or more of local control element 231, 236 and local monitor 232, 237 provides control communication services 233, 238 to the TCSP 150. In some examples, TCSP A 150 may instantiate at least one of a local control element 231, 236 and a local monitor 232, 237 at the InP 130, 135 for each of one or both of TCSP control element 251 and TCSP monitor 252 associated with at least one or more of a corresponding VN control element 211, 216 and VN monitor 212, 217 at a VNO 110, 115.
  • the local control element 236 (and the local monitor 237) may be considered to be a downstream control element.
  • the TCSP control elements 251, 256 (and the TCSP monitors 252, 257) may be considered to be an upstream control element to the local control element 236 (and the local monitor 237).
  • Information may be exchanged 234 between TCSP control element(s) 251 and associated local control elements 231, 236 and information may be exchanged 253 between TCSP control element(s) 251 and associated VN control elements 211, 216.
  • information may be exchanged 239 between TCSP monitor(s) 252 and associated local monitors 232, 237 and information may be exchanged 256 between TCSP monitor(s) 252 and associate VN monitors 212, 217.
  • TCSP 150, 155, 160 There are different ways of allocating infrastructure 140, 145 provided by the InPs 130, 135 to the TCSPs 150, 155, 160.
  • One way to allocate infrastructure is to provide it for exclusive use of an individual TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • the InPs 130, 135 are said to have provided the TCSPs 150, 155, 160 with a "hard slice" comprising the allocated infrastructure 140, 145.
  • the InP 130, 135 cedes full control (including scheduling, selection of APs, power control and other such resources) to the TCSPs 150, 155, 160 of at least one of more of RC, AAA and AC of at least one of the infrastructure 140, 145 and performance monitoring allocated in the hard slice.
  • TCSP 150, 155, 160 control of the infrastructure 140, 145 may be restricted to prevent interference with infrastructure 140, 145 not allocated to the TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • a second approach to allocated resources is "soft slicing".
  • the allocation of infrastructure 140, 145 is not as clearly delineated.
  • the InP 130, 135 makes a commitment or service guarantee, within the context of a service level agreement (SLA), that specifies a looser infrastructure allocation.
  • SLA service level agreement
  • an InP 130, 135 may commit that within a certain confidence level, a specified percentage of the infrastructure 140, 145 can be allocated to the TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • the commitment may be the allocation of a traffic measurement, while still specifying a confidence level. This allows the InP 130, 135 to specify an upper limit on the infrastructure 140, 145 used by a TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • the InP 130, 135 can sell allocations that total more than 100% of the available infrastructure. This allows the InP 130, 135 to maximize revenue and resource utilization.
  • the InPs 130, 135 only provide the TCSPs 150, 155, 160 with partial control of at least one of the RC, AAA, RC and performance monitoring of the infrastructure 140, 145 provided in the soft slice. The remainder of control remains with the InP 130, 135 to be exercised under direction of the TCSPs 150, 155, 160.
  • the infrastructure 140, 145 of an InP 130, 135 may be allocated to TCSPs 150, 155, 160 in various combinations of either or both of hard slices and soft slices, provided that the sum of the allocated hard slices will not exceed the total available infrastructure 140, 145 of the InP 130, 135.
  • a TCSP 150, 155, 160 may provide access to some or all of its (pooled) allocated infrastructure 140, 145 to one or more VNOs 110, 115.
  • the TCSP 150, 155, 160 can provide the VNO 110, 115 with allocations that amount to either hard or soft slices of the (pooled) allocated infrastructure 140, 145.
  • While a hard slice of infrastructure 140, 145 can be further sliced into hard and soft slicest o be provided to VNOs 110, 115, it may not be possible to offer a hard slice of a soft slice of infrastructure 140, 145. If the TCSP 150, 155, 160 has been allocated a hard slice of infrastructure 140, 145, it may in turn allocate any combination of either or both of hard slices and soft slices of such hard slice to each VNO 110, 115, again provided that the sum of the allocations of hard slices and of the upper limits allocated in soft slices does not exceed the total of the infrastructure 140, 145 allocated to the TCSP 150, 155, 160 by the InP 130, 135.
  • a TCSP 150, 155, 160 may be provided with an upper limit on use of the allocated infrastructure 140, 145, but with a guaranteed lower limit on such use.
  • Such an allocation may be considered to comprise a hard slice of infrastructure 140, 145 up to the lower limit and a soft slice of infrastructure 140, 145 of the difference between the upper limit and the lower limit.
  • FIGURE 3 is a schematic view of a first example class of scenarios in which the resources of InP B 130 are fully used by a single TCSP A 150 to which at least VNO1 110 is a subscriber. That is, a portion (in this case all) of the infrastructure 140 of InP B 130 is allocated to TCSP A 150, which assumes full control and monitoring capability over the infrastructure resources 140.
  • InP B 130 may be considered to be a "dumb pipe" in that InP B 130 cedes control to TCSP A 150, which performs all RC, AAA or RC through the TCSP control element 251. TCSP A 150 also performs all monitoring through the TCSP monitor 252.
  • the TCSP control element 251 and the TCSP monitor 232 may be supported by local control elements 231 and local monitors 232 at InP B 130.
  • authentication of attached mobile devices and authorization of the authenticated mobile devices to access the infrastructure 140 may be performed through the TCSP control element 251, or through an instantiation of an AAA server (not shown) in the infrastructure 140 of InP B130 under control of the local control element 231.
  • Either or both of TCSP control element 251 and AAA server (not shown) may contain portions of AAA information associated with VNO 1 110.
  • the VNO control element 211 may provide AAA data to the TCSP control element 251, which then provides a subset of the received AAA data to the AAA server (not shown) instantiated within the infrastructure 140 of InP B 130. This allows authentication of mobile devices, such as UE 221 without the AAA process always passing from InP B 130 through TCSP A 150 for completion by VNO 1 110.
  • the TCSP control element 251 and the TCSP monitor 252 may be in communication with the local control element 231 and the local monitor 232 respectively to request and to receive access to and control of the infrastructure 140.
  • the TCSP control function 251 may communicate with a local control function 231 through a defined application program interface (API), and the TCSP monitor 252 may communicate with local monitor 232 through another API.
  • API application program interface
  • local control elements 231 and local monitors 232 may relieve the InP 130 of the burden of any customer level interactions.
  • local elements 231, 232 help TCSP A 150 to provide services that meet any service level guarantees that it may have made to its subscribing VNOs using a single logical resource pool that incorporates infrastructure 140 across a plurality of different InPs 130.
  • Such logical resource pool can be allocated among TCSP A 150's subscribing VNOs 110 using central optimization.
  • the "dumb pipe” example may be suitable provided control signal latency between TCSP A 150, InP B 130 and the infrastructure 140 owned by InP B 130 remains acceptably small.
  • InP B 130 retains limited control, in that the local control element 231 performs at least one of AC, AAA and RC and the local monitor 232 performs performance monitoring, both under the respective direction of the TCSP control element 251 and the TCSP monitor 252.
  • the TCSP control element 251 of TCSP A 150 provides guidelines to InP B 130 for certain aspects, such as at least one of scheduling, power control, cell assignment and admission, through resource block masks that identify certain time windows made up of a plurality of time transmission intervals (TTIs) for a given frequency sub-band, subject to which the local control element 231 of InP B 130 is free to make frame-by-frame local decisions (including without limitation scheduling and power).
  • TTIs time transmission intervals
  • the local monitor 232 of InP B 130 may provide regular radio system status reports (including without limitation channel feedback, interference measurements, link loading, user equipment states and mobility information) to the TCSP monitor 252 of TCSP A 150 on at least one of a regular basis and an as-needed basis. Further, VN end-user performance monitoring is provided by the local monitor 232 of InP B 130 to the TCSP monitor 252 of TCSP A 150 by which VNO 1 110 may be charged.
  • regular radio system status reports including without limitation channel feedback, interference measurements, link loading, user equipment states and mobility information
  • Such limited control example may be suitable when the control signal latency between TCSP A 150 and InP B 130 is too large to make the dumb pipe example viable or in situations where InP B 130 does not wish to cede full control to TCSP A 150.
  • the local AAA server (not shown) of InP B 130 may be employed to discover when unauthorized UEs 221, for example those not supported by TCSP A 150, are attempting to access the infrastructure 140 allocated to TCSP A 150 by InP B 130.
  • FIGURE 4 is a schematic view of a second example class of scenarios, in which the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 is shared among a plurality of TCSPs, in this case, TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • VNO 1 110 and VNO 2 115 are subscribers to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • InP R 135 shares its infrastructure 145 among multiple TCSPs 150, 160.
  • VNO 1 110 and VNO 2 115 each have their own VN control elements, 211, 216, as well as VN monitors 212, 217.
  • Each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 have at least one of a TCSP control element, respectively 251, 256 and TCSP monitor, respectively 252, 257.
  • InP R 135 has a local control element 236 and a local monitor 237.
  • One or more of the TCSP control element 251, 256 and the TCSP monitor 252, 257 may be in communication with at least one of the local control element 236 and local monitor 237 to one or both of request and receive access to and control of the infrastructure 145.
  • InP R 135 allocates separate hard slices, each with full control of the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • InP R 135 can present to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 separate network slices in which virtualized resources are provided.
  • the virtualized resources can map directly to physical infrastructure 145.
  • each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 is at least one of ceded control and monitoring access and responsibility for its allocated infrastructure 145.
  • InP R 135 can cede control while isolating traffic from each TCSP 150, 160 at the same time.
  • This example can be considered to be an extension of the "dumb pipe" example, with each slice of the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 being considered to be all of the infrastructure of a virtual InP (not shown) dedicated to a given TCSP 150, 160.
  • slices are not allocated, but each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 is ceded control over its allocated infrastructure. This example may not provide traffic isolation, but may be less complex to implement.
  • InP R 135 allocates a hard slice with partial control of the infrastructure145 to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • InP R 135 retains limited control, in that the local control element 236 performs at least one of AC, AAA and RC and the local monitor 237 performs performance monitoring.
  • InP R 135's exercise of this limited control is subject to direction from each TCSP control element 251, 256 and each TCSP monitor 252, 257.
  • This scenario can be considered to be an extension of the limited control example, with each slice of the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 being considered to be all of the infrastructure of a virtual InP (not shown) dedicated to a given TCSP 150, 160.
  • InP R 135 allocates a soft slice (that is, an upper limit on use of the infrastructure 145) to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160. Such an example may be suitable when InP R 135 is able to resolve any resource contention-related conflicts between TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • InP R 135 may provide dynamic resource state feedback to both TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • Such feedback may comprise resource usage data, which may also indicate additional resources available to the TCSP 150, 160 at that time, and indicates permissible areas on a dynamically changing basis.
  • TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 thereafter perform their own scheduling of their use of their allocated slice of the infrastructure 145.
  • Figure 5 shows a non-limiting example embodiment of a mechanism implemented by InP R 135 for providing such dynamic resource state feedback.
  • a resource assignor 510 accepts three inputs, namely resource guarantees 511 that InP R 135 has provided to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160, a measure 512 of current usage of the resource associated with InP R 135 and a request 551, 561 from each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 for resources for an upcoming transmission time interval (TTI) T.
  • TTI transmission time interval
  • the soft slice allocated by InP R 135 to TCSP A 150 may be allocated with a resource guarantee 511 that TCSP A 150 will receive a given percentage of the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 on average, over a time window of a given number of TTIs.
  • the resource assignor 510 assigns allowed resources 552, 562 for each TTI to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160, based on the resource guarantee parameters 511, the current resource usage 512 and the resource requests 551, 561 received.
  • the dynamic resource state feedback provided by InP R 135 to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 permits the TCSPs 150, 160 to perform scheduling despite the fact that the infrastructure 145 is allocated not on an exclusive basis.
  • Each TCSP 150, 160 is otherwise given at least one of full control of and access to, monitoring of and responsibility for the infrastructure 145 that it has been allocated under the soft slice.
  • channel states and resource utilization and user Quality of Service can be sent by the local control element 236 to the TCSP control elements 251, 256.
  • the channels in adjacent cells are used by different TCSPs 150, 160, it may be appropriate to establish interference agreements between the TCSPs 150, 160. Such agreements may be static or dynamic.
  • InP R 135 allocates a soft slice with partial control of the infrastructure 145 to each of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • InP R 135 retains limited control, including over scheduling, in that the local control element 236 performs at least one of AC, AAA and RC and the local monitor 237 performs performance monitoring.
  • InP R 135's exercise of this limited control is subject to direction from each TCSP control element 251, 256 and each TCSP monitor 252, 257.
  • TCSP A 150 When the local control element 236 grants resource access to TCSP A 150, TCSP A 150 obtains the allocated slice with full power control. In some cases, TCSP A 150 may assign a scheduling priority within its own traffic.
  • FIGURE 6 is a block diagram illustrating example components of InP R 135, TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 suitable for allocating the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 to TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 in the scenarios of Figure 4 .
  • TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 are shown in terms of certain of their constituent entities, namely, for the purposes of this Figure, a Management ANd Orchestrator (MANO) entity 610, and the TCSP control element 251, 256. These entities together act to instantiate a set of virtualized network functions (VNFs) 657 (collectively 656), 667 (collectively 666) for the associated TCSPs 150, 160 on the infrastructure 145 allocated to each TCSP 150, 160.
  • VNFs virtualized network functions
  • the MANO 610 may comprise an Orchestrator 611, a VNF manager (VNFM) 612 and a Virtual Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 613.
  • VNFM VNF manager
  • VIP Virtual Infrastructure Manager
  • the Orchestrator 611 is responsible for instantiating and managing a VNF 656 in conjunction with the VNFM 612 and the VIM 613, for say TCSP A 150, on the pooled resources of TCSP A 150, including the infrastructure 145 allocated to TCSP A 150 by InP R 135,.
  • the Orchestrator 611 identifies suitable Point of Presence (PoP) entities or nodes 645 owned by or allocated to the TCSP 150, 160 on which to host VNFs 657 and passes these PoP locations onto the VNFM 612.
  • PoP Point of Presence
  • the VNFM 612 performs lifecycle management of a VNF 657 associated with TCSP A 150, 160 on the PoPs 645 of TCSP A 150, which may consist of, at various times, on-boarding, instantiating, configuring, activating and eventually deactivating the VNF 657.
  • the VIM 613 manages the pooled resources of TCSP A 150.
  • each TCSP control element 251, 256 comprises a Network Manager 651, a Proxy VNFM 652, a Shared VIM 653, a Policy Manager 654 and a Negotiator entity 655 for the corresponding TCSP 150, 160.
  • the Network Manager 651 provides service-related demands to the Orchestrator 611 as service requests.
  • the Proxy VNFM 652 performs lifecycle management of a VNF 657 on PoPs 645 allocated by InP R 135 to TCSP A 150.
  • the Shared VIM 653 manages the infrastructure 145 of InP R 135 allocated to TCSP A 150 in conjunction with the local control element 236 of InP R 135.
  • the Policy Manager 654 is responsible for maintaining and ensuring that the service-related demands, such as, by way of non-limiting example, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and costing / financial constraints of say TCSP A 150 are enforced.
  • KPIs Key Performance Indicators
  • the Policy Manager 654 can be an internal function of the Orchestrator 611 or an external entity.
  • the Policy Manager 654 identifies an acceptable resource policy to the Negotiator entity 655.
  • the Negotiator entity 655 of TCSP A 150 negotiates with InP R 135 to arrive at a negotiated resource usage policy that is in line with the acceptable resource policy identified by the Policy Manager 654. Once such a policy is established, the VNFs 657 associated with TCSP A 150 (instantiated using the infrastructure 145 allocated to TCSP A 150) can be at least one of managed and controlled by TCSP A 150 through the Proxy VNFM 652 and Shared VIM 653 in conjunction with the local control element 236 of InP R 135..
  • InP R 135 is also shown in terms of certain of its constituent entities, namely, local control element 236.
  • the local control element 236 comprises a VIM 633, a Policy Manager 634 and a Broker entity 655.
  • the VIM 633 manages the infrastructure 645 of InP R 135, in conjunction with the respective Shared VIMs 653 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • the Policy Manager 634 is responsible for maintaining and ensuring that the service-related demands, such as, by way of non-limiting example, KPIs and costing / financial constraints of InP R 135 are enforced.
  • the Policy Manager 634 may be an internal function of InP R 135 or an external entity.
  • the Policy Manager 634 identifies an acceptable resource policy to the Broker entity 635.
  • the Broker entity 635 determines a resource usage policy for all TCSPs 150, 160 by negotiating with individual Negotiator entities 655 of the TCSPs 150, 160 to arrive at a negotiated resource usage policy that is in line with the acceptable resource policy identified by the Policy Manager 634.
  • FIGURE 7 is a signal flow diagram showing example signals that may be exchanged between the components of Figure 6 .
  • the Network Manager 651 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 each send 701, 703 a service request for infrastructure 145 to their Orchestrator 611.
  • the service request may include VNF requests (including without limitation, SDN controller (SDN-C), Scheduler and Quality of Service (QoS) probes), NFVI usage requests (including without limitation, for computation, storage and network), spectrum usage requests, and traffic QoS demands (including without limitation, rate and delay).
  • VNF requests including without limitation, SDN controller (SDN-C), Scheduler and Quality of Service (QoS) probes
  • NFVI usage requests including without limitation, for computation, storage and network
  • spectrum usage requests including without limitation, rate and delay
  • the Negotiator entity 655 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 each send a request 702, 704 to the Broker entity 635 of InP R 135 containing their resource usage demands and, in consultation with their Policy Manager 654, their proposed resource usage policy.
  • the Broker entity 635 of InP R 135 uses the service request(s) to determine a proposed combined resource usage policy 705 taking into consideration all parties involved and communicates 706, 707 an individualized resource usage policy (which in some examples could be a any or all of determination of hard slicing vs. soft slicing, what resources are included in the slice and what restrictions there may be on the soft slice) to the Negotiator entities 655 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 will each optimize and identify 710, 711 suitable PoPs 645 for hosting their VNFs 656, 666 and resource usage (including without limitation, spectrum) associated with the infrastructure 145 allocated to TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 each send 712, 713 a request to their Shared VIM 653 to allocate resources associated with their identified PoPs 645.
  • the Shared VIMs 653 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 respectively send 714, 715 an acknowledgement back to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 respectively when this is done.
  • Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 each send 716, 717 a request to their Proxy VNFM 652 to instantiate one or more VNFs 657, 667 using the infrastructure 145 allocated to TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 AND TCSP B 160 each instantiate 718, 719 one or more VNFs 657, 667 using the infrastructure 145 allocated to TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160.
  • Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 each send 720, 721 an acknowledgement back to their Orchestrator 611.
  • the procedure whereby the Orchestrator 611 instructs its Shared VIM 653 to allocate resources and the Proxy VFNM 652 instantiates VNF(s) 657, 667 at PoPs 645 may be achieved through internal signalling within the NFV-MANO 610 of the respective TCSP 150, 160.
  • report(s) 722, 723 are sent by the VNF(s) 657, 667 back to their Proxy VNFM 652.
  • Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP B 160 each forward 724, 725 them to their Network Manager 651.
  • the individual TCSPs 150, 160 can access and manage their respective VNF(s) 657, 667 through their Proxy VNFM 652.
  • each TCSP 150, 160 can manage its own VNF(s).
  • contention for infrastructure 145 may be resolved through a new round of resource negotiations by the Negotiator entity 655 of the TCSPs 150, 160 sharing the resource(s) 145 in collaboration with the Broker entity 635 of the InP 135.
  • Such negotiations could be distributive or iterative in nature.
  • FIGURE 8 is a schematic view of a third example class of scenarios in which infrastructure 945 of InP R 135 is shared among multiple TCSPs, in this case, TCSP A 150 and a TCSP C 155 interposed between InP R 135 and TCSP A 150.
  • TCSP C 155 acts in a manner that emulates an InP 130, 135 to TCSP A 150.
  • TCSP A 150 may be considered to be an upstream TCSP relative to TCSP C 155 and TCSP C 155 may be considered to be a downstream TCSP relative to TCSP A 150.
  • TCSP A 150 "re-borrows" from TCSP C 155, the infrastructure 945 that InP R 135 allocated to TCSP C 155.
  • TCSP C 155 may have obtained a hard or soft slice of such infrastructure 945 with full or partial control, such as has been described in connection with the scenarios of Figure 3 or 4 or otherwise.
  • the scenario of Figure 8 may occur, for example, if TCSP A 150 does not have any way to access InP R 135 directly but desires to use infrastructure 945 from InP R 135, for example, in order to provide guaranteed service to UE 2 222, as it accesses a server, for example Server X 801.
  • TCSP A 150 is aware that the infrastructure 945 of InP R 135 can be used to provide such service to UE 2 222, and that the infrastructure 945 has been allocated to TCSP C 155. Thus, TCSP A 150 requests that the desired infrastructure 945 (for example, links and radio access) be allocated to TCSP A 150 by TCSP C 155.
  • desired infrastructure 945 for example, links and radio access
  • FIGURE 9 is a block diagram illustrating example components of InP R 135, TCSP A 150 and TCSP C 155 suitable for allocating the infrastructure 945 of InP R 135 to TCSP A 150 through TCSP C 155 in the scenario of Figure 8 .
  • TCSP A 150 is also shown having infrastructure 145 allocated to it from one or more InPs 130, 135 through a mechanism described above (including by way of non-limiting example, in connection with Figure 7 ), in association with which it instantiates NFVs 656, in addition to having infrastructure 945 allocated to it by TCSP C 155. Further, TCSP C 155 may instantiate NFVs 966 using infrastructure 945 allocated to it by InP 135, that it accesses through a mechanism described above, including by way of non-limiting example, in connection with Figure 7 .
  • TCSP A 150 and TCSP C 155 are shown in terms of certain of their constituent entities, namely, for the purposes of this Figure, the MANO entity 610, and the TCSP control element 251, 951.
  • TCSP control element 251 described in Figure 6 and in this figure shows a different configuration of components than is shown in the TCSP control element 951 and vice versa. As discussed above, TCSP control element 251 may have, in addition to or in substitution for some of the components shown, some of the components shown in the TCSP control element 951 and vice versa.
  • the TCSP control element 951 (and the TCSP monitor (not shown)) of TCSP C 155 may be considered to be a downstream control element to the TCSP control element 251 (and the TCSP monitor 252) of TCSP A 150 and conversely, the TCSP control element 251 (and the TCSP monitor 252) of TCSP A 150 may be considered to be an upstream control element to the TCSP control element 951 (and the TCSP monitor (not shown)) of TCSP C 155.
  • the TCSP control element 951 comprises a Network Manager 651, a Policy Manager 934 and a Broker entity 935.
  • the Policy Manager 95 like the Policy Manager 654, is responsible for maintaining and ensuring that the service-related demands of TCSP C 155 are enforced.
  • the Policy Manager 954 may be an internal function of the Orchestrator 611 or an external entity.
  • the Policy Manager 954 identifies an acceptable resource policy to the Broker entity 935.
  • the Policy Manager 954 may be similar in one or both of purpose and function to the Policy Manager 654 in that it may also identify an acceptable resource policy to an associated Negotiator entity 655.
  • the Broker entity 935 determines a resource usage policy for TCSP A 150 by negotiating with the Negotiator entity 655 of TCSP A 150 to arrive at a negotiated resource usage policy that is in line with the acceptable resource policy identified by the Policy Manager 954. Once such a policy is established, the VNFs 956 associated with TCSP A 150 using the infrastructure 945 allocated to TCSP C 155 can be at least one of managed and controlled by TCSP A 150 through the Proxy VNFM 652 and Shared VIM 653 in conjunction with the local control element 236 of InP R135.
  • TCSP C 155 via its NFV-MANO 610, is able to provide network orchestration capability with full or partial control of the VNFs 956 and infrastructure 945 to TCSP A 150.
  • FIGURE 10 is a signal flow diagram showing example signals that may be exchanged between the components of Figure 9 .
  • the Network Manager 651 of TCSP A 150 sends 1001 a service request for resources to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150.
  • the service request may include VNF requests (including without limitation, SDN-C, Scheduler and QoS probes), NFVI requests (including without limitation, for computation, storage and network), spectrum usage requests, and traffic QoS demands (including without limitation, rate and delay).
  • the Negotiator entity 655 of TCSP A 150 sends a request 1002 to the Broker entity 935 of TCSP C 155 containing the resource usage demands and, in consultation with the Policy Manager 654 of TCSP A 150, a proposed resource usage policy of TCSP A 150.
  • the Network Manager 651 of TCSP C 155 sends 1003 a service request for resources to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP C 155.
  • the service request may include VNF requests (including without limitation, SDN-C, Scheduler and QoS probes), NFVI requests (including without limitation, for computation, storage and network), spectrum usage requests, and traffic QoS demands (including without limitation, rate and delay).
  • the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP C 155 forwards this information on to Broker entity 935 of TCSP C 155 containing the resource usage demands and, in consultation with the Policy Manager 954 of TCSP C 155, a proposed resource usage policy of TCSP C 155.
  • the Broker entity 935 of TCSP C 155 uses the service request(s) to determine a proposed combined resource usage policy 1004 taking into consideration all parties involved and communicates 1005 an individualized resource usage policy (which in some example embodiments could be a determination of hard slicing vs. soft slicing, what resources are included in the slice and what restrictions there may be on the soft slice) to the Negotiator entity 655 of TCSP A 150.
  • the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and TCSP C 155 will each optimize and identify 1007, 1008 suitable PoPs 645 for hosting their VNFs 656, 966 and resource usage (including without limitation, spectrum) associated with the infrastructure 945 allocated by InP R 135 to TCSP C 155.
  • the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 may send 1009 an acknowledgement back to the Broker 935 of TCSP C 155.
  • Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 sends 1010 a request to the Shared VIM 653 of TCSP A 150 to allocate resources associated with the identified PoPs 645 and Orchestrator 611 of TCSP C 155 sends 1011 a request to the VIM 613 of TCSP C 155 to allocate resources associated with the identified PoPs 645.
  • Shared VIM 653 of TCSP A 150 sends 1012 an acknowledgement back to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and the VIM 613 of TCSP C 155 sends 1013 an acknowledgement back to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP C 155 when this is done.
  • Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 sends 1014 a request to the Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 to instantiate one or more VNFs 657 using the infrastructure 945 allocated by TCSP C 155 to TCSP A 150 and Orchestrator 611 of TCSP C 155 sends 1015 a request to the VNFM 612 of TCSP C 155 to instantiate one or more VNFs 967 using the infrastructure 945 allocated to TCSP C 155.
  • Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 instantiates 1016 one or more VNFs 957 using the infrastructure 945 allocated by TCSP C 155 to TCSP A 150 and VNFM 612 of TCSP C 155 instantiates 1017 one or more VNFs 967 using the infrastructure 945 allocated to TCSP C 155.
  • Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 sends 1018 an acknowledgement back to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP A 150 and VNFM 612 of TCSP C 155 sends 1019 an acknowledgement back to the Orchestrator 611 of TCSP C 155.
  • the procedure whereby the Orchestrator 611 instructs the Shared VIM 653 to allocate resources and the Proxy VNFM 652 instantiates VNF(s) 957 at its PoPs 645 may be achieved through internal signalling within the NFV-MANO 610 of TCSP A 150.
  • the procedure whereby the Orchestrator 611 instructs the VIM 613 to allocated resources and the VNFM 612 instantiates VNF(s) 967 at its PoPs 645 may be achieved through internal signalling within the NVF-MANO 610 of TCSP C 155.
  • report(s) 1020 are sent by the VNF(s) 967 back to the VNFM 612 of TCSP C 155.
  • report(s) 1021 are sent by the VNF(s) 657 back to the Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150.
  • VNFM 612 of TCSP C 155 forwards them 1022 to the Network Manager 651 of TCSP C 155.
  • Proxy VNFM 652 of TCSP A 150 forwards 1023 them to the Netowrk manager 651 of TCSP A 150.
  • the individual TCSPs 150, 155 can access and manage their respective VNF(s) 657, 967 through the Proxy VNFM 652 and the VNFM 612 respectively.
  • each TCSP 150, 155 can manage its own VNF(s) 657, 957, 967.
  • contention for infrastructure 145, 945 may be resolved through a new round of resource negotiations by the Negotiator 655 of TCSP A 150, sharing the resource(s) 145 in collaboration with the Broker entity 935 of TCSP C 155.
  • Such negotiations could be distributive or iterative in nature.
  • FIGURE 11 is a schematic view of a fourth example class of scenarios in which infrastructure 945 of InP R 135 is shared among multiple TCSPs, in this case, TCSP A 150 and TCSP C 155.
  • TCSP A 150 may act in a manner that emulates a VNO 110, 115.
  • TCSP A 150 may request a connectivity service from TCSP C 155.
  • TCSP A 150 may be considered to be an upstream TCSP relative to TCSP C 155 and TCSP C 155 may be considered to be a downstream TCSP relative to TCSP A 150.
  • This scenario may occur, by way of non-limiting example, if TCSP A 150 desires to use a service, such as a connectivity service offered by TCSP C 155 , for example, in order to provide guaranteed service to UE 2 222, as it accesses a server, for example Server X 801.
  • a service such as a connectivity service offered by TCSP C 155 , for example, in order to provide guaranteed service to UE 2 222, as it accesses a server, for example Server X 801.
  • This scenario differs from the scenario described in Figure 8 , in that TCSP A 150 does not necessarily have knowledge of what infrastructure 945 is to be used by TCSP C 155 to provide the service. Rather, TCSP A 150 relies on a QoS guarantee that may, in some example embodiments, may be enshrined in a service level agreement (SLA) that it has entered into with TCSP C 155.
  • SLA service level agreement
  • TCSP C 155 via its NFV-MANO 610, is able to provide a network connectivity service to TCSP A 150.
  • the requested connectivity service may be for a given geographical area, with links, VMs and access service guarantees for a given area for the customer and end users of a virtual network operated by TCSP A 150.
  • TCSP C 155 is tasked with establishing at least one of RC, AAA AC mechanisms and/ performance monitoring in order to uphold its obligations under such SLA.
  • TCSP A 150 may request an enhanced SLA from TCSP C 155 to cover such predicted behaviour.
  • TCSP A 150 acts as a VNO.
  • the TCSP control element 951 (and the TCSP monitor (not shown)) of TCSP C 155 may be considered to be a downstream control element to the TCSP control element 251 (and the TCSP monitor 252) of TCSP A 150 and conversely, the TCSP control element 251 (and the TCSP monitor 252) of TCSP A 150 may be considered to be an upstream control element to the TCSP control element 951 (and the TCSP monitor (not shown) of TCSP C 155.
  • TCSP C 155 remains a completely "closed network” in that it does not disclose its network details. Rather, it merely provides coverage details and input and output nodes, links and the like. Placement of VNFs is decided by TCSP C 155 after a request is received from TCSP A 150 for connectivity.
  • FIG. 12 there is shown a flow chart, shown generally at 1500, showing example actions taken by a processor at a TCSP 150, 155, 160 to allocate at least one infrastructure resource 140, 145 to at least one VNO 110, 115.
  • One example action 1210 is to send a request to the downstream control element for a portion of the infrastructure 140, 145 to be allocated to the TCSP 150, 155, 160 by an InP 130, 135 associated with the infrastructure 140, 145.
  • One example action 1220 is receive a response from the downstream control element providing access to and control of the allocated infrastructure to the TCSP 150, 155, 160.
  • One example action 1230 is access and control the allocated infrastructure 140, 145.
  • one example action 1240 is to communicate with an upstream control element for providing access to and control of the allocated infrastructure to the VNO 110, 115.
  • Figure 13 is a block diagram of a processing system that may be used for implementing one or more devices, shown generally at 1400, such as at least one of the InP 110, 115, the TCSP 150, 155, 160 and the InP 130, 135 disclosed herein and for performing actions in one or more of the methods disclosed herein.
  • 1400 such as at least one of the InP 110, 115, the TCSP 150, 155, 160 and the InP 130, 135 disclosed herein and for performing actions in one or more of the methods disclosed herein.
  • the device 1300 comprises a processing unit 1310, a storage medium 1320 and a communications interface 1330.
  • the device 1300 may also comprise a processing bus 1340 interconnecting some or all of these components, as well as at least one of other devices and controllers.
  • the device 1300 may comprise at least one of an input/output (I/O) device 1350, a network connectivity device 1360, a transceiver 1370 and an antenna 1380.
  • I/O input/output
  • the processing unit 1310 controls the general operation of the device 1300, by way of non-limiting example, by sending at least one of data and control signals to the communications interface 1330, and by retrieving at least one of data and instructions from the storage medium 1320 to execute method actions disclosed herein.
  • the hardware of the processing unit 1310 is configured so as to be capable of operating with sufficient software, processing power, memory resources and network throughput capability to handle any workload placed upon it.
  • the storage medium 1320 provides storage of data used by the device 1300, as described above.
  • the storage medium 1320 may also be configured to store at least one of computer codes, code sequences, instructions, configuration information, data and scripts in a computer program residing on or in a computer program product that, when executed by the processing unit 1310, causes the processing unit 1310 to perform one or more functions associated with the device 1300, as disclosed herein.
  • the communications interface 1330 facilitates communication with at least one of the I/O device(s) 1350, network connectivity device(s) 1360 and other entities in a communications network.
  • the communications interface 1330 is for connection to a transceiver 1370, which may comprise at least one of one or more transmitters and receivers, and at least one antenna 1380, through which such communications are effected.
  • the communications interface 1330 may comprise one or more interfaces and a suitable number of ports, to couple internal and external I/O devices 1350, network connectivity devices and the like to the processing unit 1310.
  • Network connectivity devices 1360 may enable the processing unit 1310 to communicate with the internet or one or more intranets (not shown) to communicate with remote devices, for at least one of data processing and communications.
  • the network connectivity devices 1360 may also comprise or interface with one or more transceivers 1370 for wirelessly or otherwise transmitting and receiving signals. With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the processing unit 1310 may receive information from the network or might output information to the network in the course of performing one or more of the above-described method actions.
  • the transceiver 1370 operates to at least one of prepare data to be transmitted and to convert received data for processing by the processing unit 1310.
  • FIG 14 is a call flow diagram illustrating the interaction of two TCSPs to allow roaming.
  • TCSPs can interact with each other with one acting as either an InP or a VNO. This allows a UE associated with a VNO to connect to an access point in an InP that is associated with a TCSP that is not associated with the VNO. Through a TCSP-to-TCSP interaction, the UE can effectively roam on a visited network, while still getting many of the services and processing that would be present on a home network.
  • FIG. 14 is a call flow 1400 illustrating a mechanism for third party authentication, and also for supporting 3 rd party authentication in a roaming environment.
  • the UE 1402 sends an attach request 1410 to an AP1 1404 that is connected to a TCSP that supports its VNO.
  • AP1 1404 forwards attach request 1412 to the Mobility Management Function (MMF) 1406 in the TCSP associated with the UE's VNO.
  • MMF1 1406 determines, based on the received attach request, that a 3 rd party authentication service 1408 is to be used for the authentication.
  • An Authentication request 1414 is sent to the 3 rd party 1408.
  • the 3 rd party authentication service 1408 creates a session with UE1 1402 and performs the third party authentication 1416.
  • NAS Network Access Stratum
  • AS Access Stratum
  • MMF 1406 can identify another TCSP, TCSP2, which UE1 1402 should be served by.
  • a handover procedure 1424 can occur between MMF1 1406 and MMF2 1423 and may optionally include key sharing.
  • MMF1 1406 can optionally send roaming instructions 1425 UE1 1402. The roaming instructions can provide UE1 1402 with information that can be used during the attach process to have the service routed through TCSP2.
  • UE1 1402 sends an attach request 1426 to AP2 1422, which forwards attach request 1428 to MMF2 1423.
  • UE1 1402 cannot be authenticated by MMF2 1423 using 3 rd party 1408.
  • MMF2 1423 may be due to MMF2 1423 not supporting 3 rd party authentication, or it may be due to MMF2 1423 not supporting 3 rd party 1408 in particular.
  • MMF1 may optionally request 1432 authentication credentials to be sent to MMF2 1423.
  • An Authentication Response 1434 is sent to MMF2 1423.
  • MMF2 1423 may optionally use information from the Authentication Response 1434 to identify 3 rd party 1408 and then connect in session 1436. After either 1432 or 1436, 3 rd Party 1408 may optionally repeat authentication 1416.
  • MMF2 1423 has authenticated either UE1 1402 or the user.
  • NAS security setup 1438 and AS security setup 1440 can then be undertaken.
  • Couple and “communicate” in any form are intended to mean either a direct connection or indirect connection through some interface, device, intermediate component or connection, whether electrically, mechanically, chemically, or otherwise.
  • relational terms such as “first” and “second”, and numbering devices such as “a”, “b” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element, without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements.

Claims (11)

  1. Verfahren zur Zuweisung mindestens einer Infrastrukturressource zu mindestens einem virtuellen Netzwerkbetreiber, VNO, wobei das Verfahren umfasst:
    Senden (1210) durch ein Steuerelement eines Anbieters von Telekommunikationskonnektivitätsdiensten, TCSP, an ein Steuerelement eines Infrastrukturanbieters, InP, einer Anforderung eines Teils der mit der InP-Infrastruktur assoziierten Ressourcen, der dem TCSP-Steuerelement zugewiesen werden soll;
    Empfangen (1220) durch das TCSP-Steuerelement einer Antwort vom InP-Steuerelement, die Zugriff auf einen zugewiesenen Teil der angeforderten Ressourcen bereitstellt;
    Zugreifen (1230) durch das TCSP-Steuerelement auf den zugewiesenen Teil der Ressourcen; und
    Kommunizieren (1240) durch das TCSP-Steuerelement mit einem Upstream-Steuerelement zum Bereitstellen von Zugriff auf den und Steuern des zugewiesenen Teils der Ressourcen für den VNO;
    wobei das Verfahren ferner umfasst, dass das TCSP-Steuerelement und das InP-Steuerelement Anforderungen und Antworten austauschen, bis eine Ressourcennutzungsrichtlinie vereinbart wird, bevor das TCSP-Steuerelement auf die zugewiesenen Ressourcen zugreift;
    wobei das Verfahren dadurch gekennzeichnet ist, dass
    die zugewiesenen Ressourcen einen harten "Slice" von Ressourcen umfassen, der den TCSP mit der ausschließlichen Nutzung der mit dem "Slice" assoziierten Infrastruktur versieht, und/oder
    die zugewiesenen Ressourcen einen weichen "Slice" von Ressourcen umfassen, der den TCSP mit einer Obergrenze hinsichtlich der Nutzung der mit dem "Slice" assoziierten Infrastruktur versieht.
  2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei das Empfangen einer Antwort (1220) ein Empfangen der Antwort umfasst, welche Steuerung des zugewiesenen Teils der Ressourcen bereitstellt, und ferner ein Senden von Steueranweisungen an das InP-Steuerelement umfasst, das mit dem zugewiesenen Teil der Ressourcen assoziiert ist.
  3. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 und 2, wobei das Zugreifen auf den zugewiesenen Teil der Ressourcen (1230) ein Zugreifen auf die und Steuern der zugewiesenen Ressourcen umfasst, und ferner ein Zusammenlegen der zugewiesenen Ressourcen mit anderen, dem TCSP zugewiesenen Infrastrukturressourcen umfasst.
  4. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei das Upstream-Steuerelement aus einer Gruppe bestehend aus dem TCSP-Steuerelement eines Upstream-TCSPs und einem VN-Steuerelement des VNOs in Kommunikation mit dem TCSP-Steuerelement eines TCSPs ausgewählt wird.
  5. Verfahren nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 4, wobei das InP-Steuerelement ein TCSP-Steuerelement bei einem anderen TCSP ist.
  6. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, wobei die Ressourcennutzungsrichtlinie ein Attribut bestehend aus Ressourcensteuerung, RC, Authentisierung, Autorisierung und Abrechnung, AAA, Zulassungssteuerung, AC, Leistungsüberwachung und einer beliebigen Kombination beliebiger von diesen regelt.
  7. Steuerelement eines Anbieters von Telekommunikationskonnektivitätsdiensten, TCSP, (1300), umfassend:
    eine Netzwerkschnittstelle (1330) zum Kommunizieren mit Steuerelementen innerhalb eines Infrastrukturanbieters, InP;
    einen Prozessor (1310); und
    einen nicht-transitorischen Speicher (1320) zum Speichern von Anweisungen, die bei Ausführung durch den Prozessor das TCSP-Steuerelement veranlassen zum:
    Senden an ein Steuerelement eines Infrastrukturanbieters, InP, einer Anforderung eines Teils von mit der InP-Infrastruktur assoziierten Ressourcen, der dem TCSP zugewiesen werden soll;
    und
    Zugreifen auf einen zugewiesenen Teil der Ressourcen des mit dem InP-Steuerelement assoziierten InPs in Reaktion auf ein Empfangen einer Antwort vom InP-Steuerelement, die Zugriff auf die zugewiesene Infrastruktur bereitstellt;
    wobei das TCSP-Steuerelement (1300) ferner so konfiguriert ist, dass es mit einem Upstream-Steuerelement zum Bereitstellen von Zugriff auf den und Steuerung des zugewiesenen Teils der Ressourcen für einen virtuellen Netzwerkbetreiber, VNO, kommuniziert und Anforderungen und Antworten mit dem InP-Steuerelement austauscht, bis eine Ressourcennutzungsrichtlinie vereinbart wird, bevor der TCSP auf die zugewiesenen Ressourcen zugreift;
    wobei das TCSP-Steuerelement dadurch gekennzeichnet ist, dass die zugewiesenen Ressourcen einen harten "Slice" von Ressourcen umfassen, der den TCSP mit der ausschließlichen Nutzung der mit dem "Slice" assoziierten Infrastruktur versieht, und/oder
    die zugewiesenen Ressourcen einen weichen "Slice" von Ressourcen umfassen, der den TCSP mit einer Obergrenze hinsichtlich der Nutzung der mit dem "Slice" assoziierten Infrastruktur versieht.
  8. TCSP-Steuerelement (1300) nach Anspruch 7, wobei der Speicher (1320) ferner Anweisungen zum Senden von Steueranweisungen an die mit dem zugewiesenen Teil der Ressourcen assoziierte Infrastruktur in Reaktion auf den Empfang der Antwort enthält, welche Steuerung des zugewiesenen Teils der Ressourcen bereitstellt.
  9. TCSP-Steuerelement (1300) nach Anspruch 7 oder 8, wobei der Speicher (1320) ferner Anweisungen zum Zusammenlegen der zugewiesenen Ressourcen mit anderen, dem TCSP zugewiesenen Infrastrukturressourcen enthält.
  10. TCSP-Steuerelement (1300) nach einem der Ansprüche 7 bis 9, wobei die Ressourcennutzungsrichtlinie ein Attribut bestehend aus Ressourcensteuerung, RC, Authentisierung, Autorisierung und Abrechnung, AAA, Zulassungssteuerung, AC, Leistungsüberwachung und einer beliebigen Kombination beliebiger von diesen regelt.
  11. System, umfassend ein Steuerelement eines Infrastrukturanbieters, InP, und das TCSP-Steuerelement (1300) nach einem der Ansprüche 7 bis 10.
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US10212589B2 (en) 2019-02-19
CN107637019B (zh) 2020-06-02
EP3311530A1 (de) 2018-04-25
KR20180014097A (ko) 2018-02-07
EP3311530A4 (de) 2018-08-22
WO2016192635A1 (en) 2016-12-08
CN107637019A (zh) 2018-01-26
US20190141532A1 (en) 2019-05-09
US10892949B2 (en) 2021-01-12
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